Harden has dominated this postseason. He's something like...3rd in PPG, 2nd in PER, 2nd in WS, and 2nd in APG. He's just had a bad game tonight. You're right. The duo works, but with Dwight, the window is extremely limited. We just ran into a historically good team and didn't capitalize on our first two chances to get a win.
If you're emotionally invested, and you spent the money, you have every right to boo this team's effort. Some people say they'd never boo their team, and that's fine. At the same time, though, you've invested your time, money, and energy in this team. Your contribution is showing up to cheer them on. They're down 30, showing less energy than the team that is absolutely dominating them and on the verge of closing them out, I think it's your prerogative to boo. Of course as they're showing energy, and signs of life, you still cheer.
All time great team? You haven't been reading this board lately, huh? People on CF laughed at that idea, have been all season long. They just keep on backpaddling. Even after they won the first two games of the series, people were still saying that we could beat them no problem. I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad.
You know...after the first two games, this didn't seem that crazy, no? Played them close in Oracle twice, just couldn't seal the deal. Tonight...they just let go of the rope. Completely fell apart. There's always next year...
Today's game looks like Game 1, 3, 4, and three quarters of Game 6 of the Clippers series. Yes, you guys forgot how much quit was in that team just because they had a miracle come back in one game and two hard fought games in this series.
Warriors are definitely an all-time great team. They are the 10th team to ever win 67+ games. 7 of those 9 won the championships. Argue semantics all you want, but facts are facts. They are a phenomenal team. Booing at the game serves no purpose. In fact, I would argue that its detrimental. Booing for lack of effort or preparation is one thing. I wouldn't do it, but I understand it. Houston has a reputation for being fair-weathered, uninformed fans. Twitter exemplifies the worst of us, as does this board sometimes. Booing in a game like this only furthers that sentiment.
Booing in a game like this looks that way to some. To others it shows you cares. What really looks bad on the national stage is when a fan sitting courtside in Rockets gear is trying to give the other team's star a high five after he hits a momentum killing shot.
It's just not one game where we've not brought the effort, it's been games in every single series and I'm not sure which one is the worst right now. Something is very wrong behind closed doors and yes they deserved to be booed but personally I don't like it.
It's mental. The Rockets need a leader on the floor. That guy right now is Jason Terry but he's a back up to a guy who should be a back up when healthy.
I'm not convinced the duo does work. Their total lack of chemistry on the offensive side of the floor seems pretty glaring to me. And I still don't think Howard gives us enough to merit his salary. That doesn't mean he's bad - he's a superb rebounder and a great finisher on alley oop passes and missed shot tip ins. But as we've seen this series, he isn't quick enough any more to truly shut down the paint by himself and his post ups and (especially) his free throws are as bad as ever. If the salary cap wasn't a concern, Dwight's limitations wouldn't be insurmountable. But the cap is a concern, and his monster salary as what is essentially a top tier garbage man style player limits our ability to improve our lack of a decent PG and a consistent PF (who can play both tough and smart, not just one or the other) Similarly, Harden has these bizarre lapses of concentration that leads to some truly awful games (where he essentially plays like a laid back Steve Francis pounding the ball with even less D). Maybe he'd do better having another alpha dog (on offense) where he doesn't have to do everything himself. Dwight certainly isn't that kind of alpha dog, and I'm not sure we can find the cap room to sign such a player without gutting the team or even get lucky enough to have such a player be available. In a way, this team reminds me of the 2005 Astros. That team had a hot streak that got it into the World Series where it promptly got swept. Rather than recognizing that Biggio and Bagwell didn't have it in them to get us a championship (which from my vantage was obvious given the number of times both of them choked and outright sucked in the playoffs), the team continued to use them as the cornerstones and the team never competed seriously again. Maybe this team deserves one more year together to try and put it all together. Maybe Beverley would have at least helped contain all the open perimeter shots that GS have gotten. maybe Montejunas would have given us enough points in the post to make us more competitive. I'm not convinced - I've felt their were big holes in this team since the beginning of the year and this series has exposed all of them. And I think it's naive to expect players to somehow outgrow their flaws. So you have to decide whether a collection of players (especially the stars) can win despite their flaws. Again, I'm not convinced the Harden-Howard duo can overcome their flaws and win together.
hmm, your points are definitely something to think about. Which superstars do not have limitations though? You really need good coaching and recruiting to shore up those holes. The coaching is not there yet. With Howard, Morey has to think. Is he healthy enough for a full season? He was dominant in the playoffs because he had a half-season to rest. need to get Capela to grow up fast. Harden needs help. You can't ask for anything more from the way he played in the regular season and in Games 1 and 2 vs GSW.
I don't think you boo this man. GS was firing on all cylinders and we were not firing on any of them. This team has overachieved so I don't see how you can boo them.
Ticket costed me $150. I was extremely frustrated, but never felt like booing. We've had a really good year, and probably got further than we should given the injury situation. We just got trounced by a better team. My expectations will be higher moving forward, but popping that playoff run cherry is a good start.
Fact are they haven't won the championship yet. If in retrospect, they do beat the Cavs, I have no problem calling them an all time great time. As of now, not so much.
Repped. Good post. I agree with many of your points. Just to address a few of them... 1) I agree that Howard probably isn't "worth" 22 mil a year. What it comes down to is would we rather have Howard at that salary, or not have him at all? I think his playoff performances always elevate to the point where he's still definitely somebody you want, even at the price tag. He's statistically so dominant, especially defensively, you have to keep him. It's so hard to get those star players, you have to roll with the one's you land. 2) Harden's chemistry with Howard isn't all that worrisome to me. It's not terrific, but it works, and I think a lot of the problems are due to the lack of sophistication with the offense. You can only do so many pick and rolls or drive and dumps. That kind of offense gets easy to figure out. 3) The supporting cast has too many flaws, as you said. Not enough guys fit this 3's and free throws strategy we have, and we always lacked that 2nd playmaker behind Harden. It's a testament to the Rockets that they made it this far despite so much inconsistency in those areas. It's a really talented group, but the flaws are noticeable. I think the Harden-Howard core can win, but they need the right pieces around them and they likely need a better coach. We're lucky Harden is 25, but Dwight's age and health are concerns, so Morey has his work cut out for him.
Thanks for being a good fan bud. It must be frustratin spending money to see a blood bath like that but hey. Its sports. Only one team can win. Keep supporting the team and maybe that next game you go to will make up for this one.
